Knotty
by Byzantium blackberry
Summary: When straight A student Natasha Romanoff is instructed to tutor jock Bucky Barnes she thinks her life is ending. But as they get to know each other maybe Bucky isn't as bad as she thought...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi people. New fanfic. Sooo excited. Please comment and suggest. Also read my Hotel Wakanda and my Captain America gender swap. They're my life!**

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When Natasha entered her Biology classroom she was happy to find her best friend awaiting her at their table.

"Hey Clint," she greeted. She noticed he wasn't wearing his usual black and grey today. "Hey purple's a good color on you."

"Sup Nat, and really? Throwing a compliment right when you get here? Either you're falling for me or you want something." he replied as she took a seat on the desk, "And if you are falling, then you'd better ask someone else to catch you because this guy's taken."

Natasha laughed at the thought of even thinking to like Clint like that. She and him had known eachother for years. "Better luck next time," she joked, "Wait, Laura, that one girl from Richmond high? You finally asked her out?"

"Yeah, last week." he replied.

"It's been a full week and you haven't told me about it!" she gasped.

"I wanted to keep it low key. Besides I knew if I did then you'd hunt her down and scare her out of liking me."

"No I wouldn't have," Natasha countered. _Okay, maybe I would._

"Well, didn't want to take any chances." he replied. "And why are you mad at me for not telling you that we were dating after a week when you still won't admit that you and Banner have been dating all school year?"

Natasha's heart flipped at this and she elbowed his arm. "Clint, I swear, if you say that again you won't have any teeth by morning." she threatened. Natasha had had a secret crush on Bruce Banner since the beginning of the school year but was too afraid to talk to him.

As Clint and Natasha continued talking, Clint noticed their assistant teacher walking toward them. "Teacher alert," he stated, "with emphasis on teacher." Natasha turned around to see what Clint was talking about. Their assistant teacher, Helen Cho, was walking in their direction. Even though Helen was only 19, she'd graduated from high school early and started working alongside her mom to pick up some work ethic tips before she went off to college. Natasha quickly got off the table and sat in her seat.

"Natasha," she said as she approached, "may I talk to you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Somebody's in _trouble_ ," Clint sneered. Natasha gave him a dirty look and turned around to face Helen.

"What is it?" _I didn't do anything wrong, did I? No. Even if I did, Helen's wouldn't tell, she's chill. Then again…_

"Natasha you're not in trouble." she assured breaking Natasha out of her thoughts. "It's just that, you're the smartest student in the class," Natasha slightly beamed at this. "So I just wanted to ask you, well, more like my mom wanted to ask you, but you know how busy she is, so she told me to ask you, although she could've just done it last week but then again-"

"Helen!" Natasha interrupted, "What is it?" Helen wasn't always the brightest and she spoke at 15 words per second.

"Oh right, sorry. We were wondering if we could move you to sit next to and tutor one of our… struggling students. They really need the help."

This made Natasha's smile fade slightly. _Seriously? I don't want to move seats. I love sitting next to Clint. I mean, we have two other classes where we sit together but still. Then again, this kid needs my help. (Sigh)._ "... Sure, I'll do it."

"Oh, thank you Natasha! And just because of your generosity I might raise your grade a percentage or two," Helen promised.

As they walked back to her seat Clint gave Natasha a 'what was that all about' face. "I got a seat change. she explained.

"What! You're joking right?"

"Nope. That's what happens when you piss me off Clint." she said acting as if it was his fault.

"Seriously! Nat, c'mon. I was joking about Banner." he whined.

"Too late."

"(Sigh), who are you sitting next to anyway?" he asked.

"Natasha stopped packing her stuff and realized she hadn't asked that. "Helen," she called causing her to stop. "who _am_ I sitting next to?" she asked skeptically. Helen turned around and walked back to their table.

"Oh," Helen said in a nervous tone, "just… Mr. Barnes." she whispered.

Natasha just stood there staring at nothing as Clint began to laugh. Bucky was almost as bad as Tony Stark except without the smarts. He was just another jerky jock on the Hockey and Football teams and fiddled with about every girl he could find. He stayed away from her though. Natasha had a way of making people either fall for her or run. The most he had done was call her red, which annoyed her coming from him, and give the occasional wink. "Dacă acel băiat mă jignește în nici un fel am jurat-"

When Natasha got angry her Russian accent came and she started whisper yelling in different languages. "Um, Nat?" Clint interrupted her Romanian cursing and motioning downward. Natasha looked down and saw that she was clenching her fists so hard that the pen she was holding had leaked all over her hand.

"Whoops," she said. Clint started laughing all over again. Natasha finished packing her stuff.

"Oh, look at the time." Helen said. "I gotta go do… teacher stuff. Bye." she said hurrying away from the conversation.

Natasha began to walk to her new seat. "Have fun over there, Nat." Clint laughed. Just then Natasha turned around to face the laughing jokester and slid her inked hand down the side of his face and began to walk away again. "Dude, Natasha!" he whined, but she just kept walking with a slight smile on her face which completely faded when she arrived at Bucky's table.

Luckily Bucky was too busy on his phone to notice her when she sat. She got a tissue out of her backpack and wiped what she could off of her hand. Then the bell rang and Mrs. Cho barged into the classroom with piles of papers that Helen was rushing to pick up off the floor. "Students!" she called and everyone in the room went to their seats and put their phones away. "This unit we'll be learning about how to regenerate tissue. Open your books to page 201 chapter 5. At the end of the unit we will be performing an experiment doing just that, using the tissue replicator created by my very own daughter, Helen Cho." she bragged. Hearing this made Helen blush nervously and hurriedly continue to pick up the papers her mom dropped. Mrs. Cho was a _lot_ of a show off and talked twice as fast as Helen did. "Helen!" her mom screamed, "what are you doing on the floor? Get up and make yourself useful!"

The class began taking notes on the chapter. "Hey red," Bucky whispered to Natasha making her flinch on the inside. "What, you couldn't bear being so far away from me? Don't worry, I get that a lot."

"No," Natasha replied still taking her notes, "First of all, don't call me that, and second, I _have_ to sit here because _you're failing_ this class."

"Geez, we've got a feisty one over here," he smirked leaning close to her ear, "my favorite kind."

Once the bell was about to ring Natasha quickly packed up her stuff. "Gimme your number." she commanded.

"Excuse me? Why? I mean, I don't m-" he started.

"Just shut up and give it to me. I'll call you tomorrow for your first tutoring session." she said.

"I never agreed to that," he said. Natasha gave him a deadly glare. "Okay, okay, gosh." he said putting the number in her phone. Once he handed it back to her she picked up her bag and started toward the door.

Clint and Natasha began walking to the dorms. "Well, I'm still alive, thankfully." Natasha started. "He kept an alright distance from me, and I didn't catch him staring at anything, even though I bet he was."

"I'm sorry are you talking to me?" Clint said sarcastically. "I usually don't like interacting with people that STAIN MY FACE!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry about that, _but_ you had it coming," Natasha apologized.

"You tease me about Laura every day and I never do anything to you," he complained, "but the one time I slightly tease you about the guy you've been crushing on for months, even though Maria does it to you all the time, this happens!" he said taking off his hood and showing his marked face. "Everyone's probably gonna think I wore mascara, and cried it off."

"Or," she said encouragingly, "they'll think you have a girlfriend who wears black lipstick and was kissing your cheek and you forgot to wipe it off. Perfect excuse, right?"

"Either way they'll think I'm goth," he said annoyingly.

"Well, your aesthetic isn't helping you very much with that. 'Hey guys I'm Clint Barton and I only wear colors that match my soul,'" she imitated, "people probably already think you're goth."

"Shut up, Nat. This is your fault." Clint said as they began to approach the dorm buildings. "So, you're gonna tutor him?"

"Yeah, I kind of have to. If he doesn't pass the next test we have I'll have to sit with him for another unit. If I whip him into shape and teach him some studying tricks then maybe he'll start to change." _Hopefully._

"Well," Clint started, "if you ever need help or he tries anything, call me."

"Thank you and I will. Trust me, this is going to be hectic."

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 **Comment, God bless, and have a nice day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two, yay! Comment, review, and suggest. Also read my Hotel Wakanda and Captain America. (They're my life)**

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The next day…

Natasha woke up to see her roommate, Maria, already beginning to get ready. "Why do you wake up so early?" she asked getting out of bed. "You always get here so late but then you wake up at 5:00."

"You know what they say, the early bird gets the worm," Maria replied. "So, Clint tells me you have a new boyfriend."

"Well Clint can drink some bleach. He's not my boyfriend and he never will be." Natasha huffed. _Just thinking about it makes me gag._

"Who's the 'he' you're talking about?"

"Bucky Barnes. I have to tutor him for biology." _Unfortunately._

"Wow. _The_ Bucky Barnes. That's depressing. But he's hot." Maria said grabbing her bag and applying a layer of lipstick.

"OMG, no. Don't make me throw up." Natasha exclaimed.

"I'm just sayin, Bucky may be a bad guy but he looks pretty good. Lock the door when I leave. And isn't he dating Carol Danvers now?"

"Yeah. I don't know why she'd be gullible enough to do that though," Natasha replied. _Meh_ , _I guess he's kinda cute. He does have a pretty nice build. His blue eyes are so pretty and his hair length works on him. And that jawline though- No! Nat, do not submit to the hypnotism that James Buchanan Barnes has put every other girl in school under. Snap out of it. He's a jerk. He's a jerk… "_ Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked noticing Maria rushing around the room. "I barely ever get to see you and we're _roommates_. That's unhealthy."

"Sorry but today I'm going on a field trip to explore a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier premises." she explained. "Gotta get there on time or it'll leave without me."

"Well then who am I gonna talk to about my first day tutoring everybody's favorite philanderer." Natasha repined.

"Hmm, I don't know, I kinda like Tony more." Maria joked. "And using large words I see?"

"Oh, just a little something I picked up from lit class." Since Maria and Natasha had almost the same GPA, they usually tried to compete with each other on who was smarter by seeing who could use the most advanced vocabulary and whatnot.

"We can talk about your Bucky Barnes _botheration,_ when I get back." she countered making Natasha roll her eyes playfully. "And don't worry, I'll be back on time today. Love you." she said before heading out the door.

"You too," Natasha replied. She walked to the bathroom and began to wash her face and brush her teeth. _C'mon Nat. Don't think about it. Just be as positive as possible and maybe your day won't be completely ruined after sixth. Wait, I have to practice today,_ she thought. Every other day Natasha went to the gym area and practiced her gymnastics and dance routines for her dance class. She noticed that practicing alone helped her concentrate more. _Well, I guess we'd be the only ones there._

Natasha put on a red tank top and blue jeans with a black cardigan. She looked down at her still blackened hand from the day before and pulled down her sleeve so it was unseen. _Looking as boring as usual,_ she thought staring at herself in the mirror. Natasha was one of the prettiest girls at Shield High, beside Ororo Munroe and Jessica Drew, and she knew it but she didn't really care to look too nice. Someday's she'd dress like a model while others she looked just like everyone else. Average. She grabbed her phone from her bedside and texted Clint. ' _You awake?'_ she asked. He took a couple minutes to reply.

" _Ya, why?'_ he replied.

' _U_ _wanna head to the lounge and get some coffee?'_

Clint let out a sigh, ' _Sure. Meet you in 10.'_

Natasha stashed her phone in her pocket, grabbed her stuff, and took the key as she began to head downstairs. As she exited the dorm buildings she bumped into Steve. "Oh, hey Steve," she greeted.

"Nat, hi." he replied, " You're up early. Anything special going on?" he asked.

"Nah, I was just hoping to come down at the exact time as you so that we'd bump into each other and drop all of our stuff and end up falling in love, like in the movies." she joked."Oh, wait, you're already dating Sharon. Darn." Steve was one of Natasha's closest friends. He was always being so kind and generous to people. She didn't understand why he'd hang out with someone like Bucky.

Steve blushed. "Ha, ha, very funny. Anyway, I hear you're _tutoring Bucky?_ " he asked.

"Why are you saying it as if that's abnormal. You think I can't tutor?" she said, faking disbelief.

"No, no, I'm not saying that." he assured. "You just… don't seem like the tutory type."

"For your information, _Steve Rogers_ , I have a 4.5 GPA, thank you very much." she countered. "I could have graduated already, but I decided to stay to keep an eye on you and Tony. Make sure you guys don't blow up the school."

"Sure Natasha," he laughed. As they walked into the lounge they continued their conversation. After about 5 minutes, Clint came in and joined them.

"Hey Steve," he said giving him one of _those_ guy greetings. _Why do guys do that?_ Natasha thought. "Sup Nat."

"Hey. I ordered your usual if that's okay." she told him as he sat across from her.

"Yeah that's cool, thanks."

"Well," Steve started, "I've gotta get going but it was nice talking to you guys. Maybe I'll see you at lunch. Bye."

"Lates," Clint said as he left. "Did you finish the French homework." he asked Natasha. "I _kinda_ forgot… to start it."

"Sure," she said handing him her work, "Avez-vous étudié pour le test?" she asked.

"English please. You know I'm barely passing that class."

"You know we have a test today, right? Did you study?" she asked pulling out her flashcards.

"No, and no. Why do you think I'm copying your work. Keep up, Nat. Mantegna, mantegna!"

Natasha laughed at his use of the wrong language. "That's Spanish dumdum."

"I know but aren't you proud? I mean, no estas orgulloso? I already had to learn Spanish and now they want me to learn French? It took me two years to learn _that_. Dos, deux, Ér!"

Okay, okay, Mr. all of a sudden bilingual, shall I test you?" she asked.

"(Sigh), Hit me."

"Salut mon nom est Natasha. Qu'est-ce qui est à toi?" she asked.

"Uh, Mon nom est Clint."

"Ravi de vous rencontrer. J'ai dix- sept ans. Quel âge avez-vous?"

Just then the bell rang. "Oh thank goodness," Clint exclaimed as they began to pack their stuff.

"This isn't over. At lunch we're going over the rest." Natasha warned.

"Whatever," Clint ignored. "So you and Bucky, eh? What's the plan?"

"Well, we're gonna be in the gym today 'cause I have to practice, but I'll give you the details after."

In biology…

Clint and Natasha walked into class together to her table. "Do you think you passed?" Natasha asked him, settling in her seat.

"I don't know, I forgot what 'when is your birthday' was and 'what are your classes'. So probably not. Maybe a B at the most." he replied.

"They were, Quand est votre anniversaire, and, quelles sont vos classes. Gosh Clint, do you need a tutor too?" she joked.

"Hardy har, you're funny Nat." he said rolling his eyes. "But seriously, yes." Clint and Natasha continued their conversations until Bucky arrived. He walked toward the desk clicking on his phone until he approached.

"Hey man," he greeted to Clint.

"Sup," Clint said back to him and they gave each other another one of those guy greetings. _Why are they doing it? They're not even friends!_ Natasha thought, still confused.

"Hey red," Bucky said turning to look at her. "Can't wait 'till tonight."

"Clint already knows I'm tutoring you so no need to get him wondering," she replied. "And don't call me that." _Gosh I hate you._

After class…

"So," Bucky started after the bell rang. "where we headed?"

"The gym," Natasha answered.

"The gym? Why? Aren't we supposed to go somewhere like the library or-"

"Bucky, could you just shut up and do it?" Natasha grumbled. "You're already getting on my nerves and we haven't even started yet." Bucky shrugged and stopped talking but still had his usual smirk on his face.

As they exited the room Clint caught up with them. Bucky stopped at his locker and Clint and Natasha walked to hers. Their lockers weren't too far from each other so it wasn't much of a walk. Natasha took her dance bag out of her locker and slammed it shut. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she told Clint as they walked back toward Bucky.

"I guess. Later," he said, beginning to walk away. "Don't die."

"You too," she called as he disappeared in the crowd. She approached Bucky's locker slowly as he gathered his things and put them into his backpack. "You ready?" she asked.

"Almost," he began. Suddenly Natasha noticed a short haired blonde girl rushing toward them. Carol. Bucky noticed her, dropped his stuff and gave her a hug as she jumped into his arms, which lead to a _very_ long and _very_ passionate kiss. Natasha just stood there awkwardly. Waiting.

Carol Danvers and Bucky had been having an on again off again relationship for almost three months now and _weren't_ ashamed to show it, and by what Natasha could see, _and hear_ , she was guessing they were on again. Carol was tall, athletic, cheerful, outgoing, charismatic, gorgeous, klutzy _and_ one of the most popular girls at school. Everybody liked her, including Natasha. She was about 5'10 and pretty perfectly fit and shaped. Her quiffed hair was perfectly blonde and she had bright blue eyes to match her personality. That day she wore a red crop top and blue jeans. Since Carol was on the softball team and in track, her and Natasha would see each other in the gym every once in awhile. Though she wasn't one of the smartest people in the school, she was someone you could count on.

After about _10_ seconds Natasha was starting to get annoyed. "Eh hem," she said clearing her throat. They finally broke apart, noticing her presence, and Carol turned to face Natasha.

"Oh, hey Nat." she greeted. "Sorry about that. How are you?"

"Great thanks. And you?" Natasha replied. _A little nauseous now because of what I just witnessed but other than that…_

"Awesome," she exclaimed. "I hear you're tutoring _this guy."_ she said stepping by his side and hugging his arm. "I personally apologize." she joked.

"Yeah, pretty wild, but I can handle it."

"It _is_ , I'd do it but Biology and I don't exactly see eye to eye. Anyway it was nice seeing you, Nat. We've got to catch up sometime. Bye." she said turning back to Bucky going on her tiptoes for a peck, whispering something to him, and then walking off, waving back at them.

"Okay," Bucky started. "I'm ready." he announced shutting his locker door with a grin on his face.

 _Yeah me too,_ Natasha thought, _to throw up._

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 **...yeah.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three, yay! Leave reviews guys and follow. I try to post every week so... yeah. Please enjoy this chapter and make recommendations on how you want this story to go.**

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Once they arrived at the gym Natasha went to the locker room to change. She took off her pants and replaced them with biker shorts and put on ballet shoes. Once she exited she took a scrunchie and put her hair into a ponytail.

"Why, you look fancy," Bucky said as she approached him.

"Wow, thanks," Natasha replied sarcastically.

"So," he started, "Where we gonna do this?" he said motioning to his bag.

"Right here," Natasha answered, putting her stuff next to the bleachers. Bucky gave her a confused look but obeyed. He sat on the first bleacher and started pulling out his work. Natasha walked over to the far wall and started setting up the padded mats until they covered a quarter of the gym floor. "Let me see your notes." she asked when she finished.

Bucky opened his notebook and handed it to her. _Well, they're not too bad,_ she thought as she skimmed them. "What grades do you get when you don't study for tests?" she asked him.

"Meh, maybe a 65% or something," he answered.

"And what about when you do?" _If you do._

"Uh, about 80-90%, depends on the test."

"Seriously?" she asked, surprised that his scores weren't lower than that. "How often do you study?"

"Not much, I guess. I got practice every other day and I've gotta make time for Carol, Steve, and my daily homework." he explained. "Surprise surprise, not everybody gets to go home everyday and still have time to paint their nails."

"Why are you saying it as if I do?" she asked suspicious of what he was getting at. "Are you saying that since I'm a _girl_ I don't have as much work to do as you? That my schedule isn't full?"

"Dude, chill I'm just saying-" he started.

"For your information, Bucky Barnes, I have 4 _AP_ and 2 regular classes that I have to juggle, a dance class that I have to practice for for 2 hours every other day, a 4.5 GPA I have to maintain, a jerk I have to tutor, and just to top it all off since we're on the topic of women, a period I have to suffer through every month all while trying not to get raped every day!" Natasha huffed. "And my nails," she started, lifting her hands, "are plain."

Bucky just sat there staring at her. "Every day, Natasha?" he asked, causing confusion to spread across her face. "You're not that hot."

Natasha just rolled her eyes, slightly chuckling and got her book out. "The first rule we need to establish is respect," she started. "You respect me and I'll _try_ as hard as possible to respect you. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Bucky stated.

"This week you're gonna learn how to take notes correctly because _this_ ," she said holding up his notebook, "is unacceptable. Turn to page 201. Let me show you how it's done."

An hour later Bucky was taking notes on the first section of the chapter. Natasha stayed on the mats and did her stretches. Bucky would glance at her every once in awhile questioningly wondering why it was so important for her to stretch for an hour instead of actually practicing her routines. "Can I ask, what are you doing."

"Stretching," Natasha answered sarcastically. "What you thought I was posing for you for the past hour?"

"No, but you've been doing that for an hour straight. Stretching usually only takes like, 15 minutes." he replied.

"Well, not if you want to be the best."

Bucky continued to watch her as she practiced her splits. _Geez, how do girls do that? Seems painful,_ he thought, inspecting her body.

"Y'know, it's not polite to stare." she said breaking him out of his thoughts, not even having to look at him to know what he was doing. Bucky, startled, hurriedly went back to work. A couple minutes later Natasha began to play music and dance. Bucky watched through the corner of his eye.

 _Hmm, she's pretty good,_ he thought.

"Are you working?" she asked knowing she was a distraction.

"Yes, yes, goodness." he said going back to his work. _Buzz kill._ Bucky noticed that Natasha constantly stopped between every other move, with a frustrated look on her face.

When Natasha finished Bucky began to clap. "Bravo," he cheered.

"Shutup," she retorted. "That was horrible."

"Oookay? How?" he asked.

Natasha let out a huff but answered. "It's a partner dance, meaning _2_ people."

"So who's the second person?"

"Obviously I don't know. My dance teacher makes _me-_ you know what, why am I even telling you this. Just, keep taking notes." she said going back to work on her moves.

"(Sigh)," Bucky sighed, going back to work but secretly still looking at her every now and then. On one of Natasha's backflips, her footing was off and she stumbled onto the mat. "Chert poberi! vy tupyye obuv'. yesli vy ne nachnete rabotat' srazu ya sozhgu tebya!" she whisper yelled in Russian to her ballet flats.

Bucky heard and looked up with concern. "Um,Red?"

"Kakiye?" she yelled in frustration.

"Estás bien?"he asked.

"Estoy bien, déjame en paz y toma tus notas!" she huffed. Bucky lifted an eyebrow causing her to notice that she hadn't been speaking English. "Sorry, I get… frustrated sometimes." she explained.

"Yeah so do I but I don't do _that_." he laughed. "How many languages do you know? All of them?"

"No, just 8." she replied picking herself up and walking to her bag for water.

" _Just 8?_ Are you serious?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah. Spanish, French, Romanian, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Arabic. And English, so I guess nine." she answered trying not to blush at the attention. Natasha knew that she was smart and liked that others knew it too. But she felt kinda uncomfortable talking one on one about it. Bucky was staring at her with an 'are you serious' look on his face. "What? How many do you speak?" she asked.

"I speak English and Romanian. But I'm in Spanish rn, so I guess that counts." he replied.

"You speak Romanian?" Natasha asked surprisingly. _Maybe there's more to this guy than I thought._

"Yeah, it's kinda lame." he answered shrugging it off. Just as Natasha opened her mouth to speak again, the hourly bell rang again. "Guess study session's over." he stated.

"Yeah." Natasha said a little disappointed that she couldn't get to know more about how he learned the language. "I'll call you for our next session." she said packing her stuff. "It'll probably be by the end of the week. Make sure you finish taking notes for that chapter and the next one. I want to see them completed next time."

"Yes ma'am." he said, zipping up his backpack. "Do you need help putting away the.." he started, motioning to the mats.

"No, I'll be fine, thanks. Bye." she said as he began to leave.

"Sayonara," he said before leaving Natasha in the gym.

 _Well, I guess he's not as bad as I thought he was. And he must be pretty okay if Carol is dating him. What am I even saying. You saw what he did to Jessica last year. She cried for days and she's pretty tough. Whatever, I'm only here to tutor him. Nothing else. So none of it matters._

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 **Don't be shy. Please leave comments and recommendations. It really means a lot.** **Thanks, Love you all!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four!? So sorry I posted so late I've been busy with homework, and Christmas, and homework, and Aaahh! Spiderman Homecoming trailer with my boy Tom just came out. Pretty spice! Suggest and please read my Hotel Wakanda. It's surprisingly popular.**

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Later that day…

"Natasha, I'm back!" Maria announced when she entered the room.

"Dude, it's 6:00" Natasha said looking up from her work. "What took you guys so long?"

"It was amazing! And soo big!" she exclaimed. "You should have gone. It was pretty fun."

"Sounds exciting," Natasha replied.

"Ima hit the shower. We can talk when I'm done." Maria assured heading to the bathroom.

"Sure."

Later that night…

"Okay," Maria started as she exited the bathroom in her towel. " how was your day?" she asked remembering that Natasha was complaining about tutoring Bucky earlier. "I want to know all the details."

"Well," she started, thinking back to what had happened that day, "it was okay. Not as terrible as I thought."she exclaimed. "The real tutoring hasn't started yet though. _That_ we'll start later this week. Probably friday."

"So, that's all?" Maria asked. "I thought you would want to rant about every little thing he did wrong. _Oh Mari, his shoulder brushed against mine and I almost threw up, oh Mari, he's too tall for his age, oh Mari, he breathes too heavily. Blah, blah, blah._ " she imitated in a whiney voice. "Like that."

Natasha chuckled at her. "First of all I don't sound like that. And second, I wouldn't be saying that to someone who knows exactly where all of your Nike clothes are and how to use bleach."

"Ha ha, you're funny" Maria laughed sarcastically. "But if you touch any of my Nike's, I _will_ kill you." she assured, her laughter turning into a deadly glare.

"Exactly," Natasha said leaning back into her bed, staring at the ceiling. She sat for a couple more minutes in silence while Maria changed, thinking about her day once again.

Soon it was almost 11:00. Natasha looked over at Maria. "Hey Mari?" she started, wondering if she was even still awake.

"... (sigh), yeah?" Maria mumbled indicating that she was beginning to fall asleep.

"How many languages do you speak?" Natasha asked.

"Umm…. 6," she replied drowsily.

"8." Natasha countered.

"Hey Nat?" Maria started.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you asking me stupid questions in the middle of the night?" she mumbled into her pillow, falling closer to sleep.

"Why are you answering?" Natasha retorted, still staring at the ceiling. With that Maria stopped talking and slept. Natasha, knowing the conversation had come to an end, turned her side lamp off and did the same.

The rest of that week went by pretty fast. By Friday Natasha was ready for another study session with Bucky and to find out more about his second language.

Natasha woke up early that morning and decided to take a jog. As she got dressed Maria woke up. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I'm going for a jog. You wanna come?" she offered.

"Nah, I got to catch up on the homework I couldn't finish last night." Maria replied.

"Okay." Natasha grabbed her headphones and headed out the door. "Lock it." she called before closing it.

She walked out of the building scrolling through her playlist. She walked to the track and immediately noticed Steve running on it. He didn't notice her presence so she decided to surprise him. Since he had earplugs in she didn't have to sneak. Natasha ran up behind him and jumped on his back, waiting to hear him shriek in surprise. He didn't flinch. It was like he barely noticed her.

"Hey Nat," he greeted.

"Steve," Natasha said playfully, "nice bumping into you. How's it going?" she continued, still clinging onto his back.

"Pretty good, and you?" he asked.

"I'm alright, I'm alright." she replied.

"Um, Nat?" Steve started.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Could you, y'know, get _off_ my back?" he asked.

Natasha jumped down. "You're no fun Steve," she told him.

"Why, thank you." he retorted. "Wanna run with me?"

"It would be an honor." Natasha replied in a comical voice. Natasha liked to pick on Steve because almost all of the girls at their school had huge crushes on him and weren't very good at keeping it to themselves. Steve didn't notice it all that much. He thought people at Shield were just _friendly_.

"How was your study session last night?"

"Well, I'm not dead, Bucky's not dead. So pretty good I guess." she answered as they began to pace.

Steve chuckled. "Is he really that bad?" he asked.

"OMG Steve, have you not met him? Honestly, I don't know why you hang out with him."

"I guess he's a little full of himself-"

"A little?" Natasha interfered. "That's an understatement." _Dang, is Steve really that blind?_

"Okay fine," he agreed. "He's full of himself and not the most caring, and a little irresponsible," he said more to himself than to her. " _but_ he's a good guy."

"Whatevs. I still don't like him." she continued.

About 10 minutes later they stopped by some nearby bleachers. "So, the Winter Formal is coming up soon. You gonna go?"

Steve had thought about going to the formal but he wasn't so sure. "Maybe." he answered. "Are you?"

Natasha shrugged. "Possibly, it depends. I don't know if Clint, Maria, or Pepper are going so Idk."

"Yeah, same. I know Bucky and Carol are probably going together but I don't want to be a third wheel."

"You know," Natasha started stepping towards him. "You and I could always go together." she said putting her arms around his neck and leaning into his chest.

"Yeah, no." he said moving her arms away. "You have a problem, Nat."

"Hmm, strange, that's exactly what the voices in my head say." Steve chuckled. "But, seriously Steve, you could ask any girl in this school and they'd say yes. Including one girl in particular."

Steve turned away slightly, embarrassment flooding his cheeks.

"C'mon Steve. Sharon likes you. You just need to talk to her."

"Yeah well, Maybe." he replied still embarrassed.

* * *

 **Love you, God bless!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5! I hope y'all remember to leave comments and follow! Also, read my Hotel Wakanda. It's pretty good.**

 **Brutasha!**

* * *

Lunch…

Natasha met up with Pepper at lunch. Pepper was wearing a button up shirt with a skater skirt and leggings. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a bun at the top of her head. Pepper and Natasha had been friends for quite some time, ever since they met at one of Tony's millions of parties. As they got in line for the food they looked over at their table to see Clint and Maria arguing. "And they're at it again." Pepper announced. When they approached the table they gave their greetings and sat. Natasha next to Clint and Maria and Pepper on the opposite side of them.

"What's going on now?" Natasha asked.

"Clint's all worked up cause I said his relationship with Laura is fake." Maria explained.

"Now why would you say something like that Mari?" Pepper asked.

"Well it's kinda true," Natasha muttered taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Excuse me?" Clint gasped causing her and Maria to giggle. "How?"

"We're just saying long distance relationships don't usually work." Maria explained.

"Long distance? She's literally just a couple blocks away!" he told.

"Still," Natasha started, "if she's one of _those_ girls then she'll want to see you all the time and since you don't go to the same school she can't." she explained. "Then she'll find some guy like Steve and ditch you for him."

"What? That's not true." he objected. Maria and Natasha shared a ' _suuure'_ look and looked away. "And why are _you_ making fun of _me_ _Mrs_. _Banner_?"

" _Ooohh_ ," Maria stated looking from Clint to Natasha.

Natasha's eyes widened and she punched Clint in the arm. "Clint I swear,"

"Ow."

"You guys leave Clint alone," Pepper snapped. "Laura likes you Clint, and no distance can change that."

"Thank you Pepper," he replied.

As the group continued talking Natasha remembered what her and Steve had talked about that morning."Hey are you guys going to the Winter Formal?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Maria started, "Isn't that in like 2 months?"

"Yeah but they're starting to hang flyers already."

"I don't know," Pepper stated. "Maybe, are you?"

"I don't know either. Steve and I were talking about it this morning. I feel like it's a couples thing and I'm not in a relationship rn so it'd just be awkward. Unless we went as a group and yelled PDA at all the couples." Natasha said looking at Clint.

"Du- _ude,"_ he said high fiving her. Pepper just shook her head in disbelief while Maria laughed.

"What about you Mari. Doesn't Lance Hunter like you?" Pepper asked. "Maybe he'll ask you."

"Well if he does that's really too bad. I don't have time to date." Maria said brushing away the subject.

Just then Tony walked by their table followed by Bruce. Clint nudged Natasha and nodded in their direction. Natasha's cheeks burned.

"Greetings Ms. Potts," Tony started.

"Hi Tony," she replied.

"Ah, ah, ah. We agreed you'd address me by Mr. Stark, remember?" he said sliding next to her.

"At work I'll call you Mr. Stark, at school I'll call you whatever I want, and right now I feel like calling you Tony." she retorted. "Got it?" Pepper had been working as an intern at Stark Industries for the past year. Though she was just an intern, Tony put a lot of work on her shoulders.

"As you wish." he sighed. Just as he was about to get up Pepper stopped him.

"Actually Tony, I have to go over your schedule for the next few days with you. You're father is inviting Obadiah Stane to SI and he wanted me to go over some things with you." As Pepper and Tony began to talk Bruce, who had been standing since they got there, sat across from Tony, next to Natasha. Clint started rubbing his shoulder on Natasha's uncontrollably with a growing grin. She gave him a deadly glare and elbowed him.

"Hey," he greeted the rest of them.

"Hi," Natasha replied.

"Sup man," Clint returned.

"Hey," Maria followed.

He got out a notebook from his backpack and began scribbling things down. Natasha watched him from the corner of her eye. His curly black hair flopped over his chocolate colored eyes in a messy yet somewhat stylish way. He was wearing a navy blue sweatshirt and jeans. Natasha kept a straight face and tried not to act suspicious. Suddenly she felt her phone vibrate. When she pulled it out she saw that Clint had started a group chat with her and Maria.

' _Naaaaaatttt!'_ he'd texted.

' _What, u forgot how to talk?'_ she replied.

' _Naaaaaattt!'_ Maria started.

' _R u idiots ok?'_

' _Bruuuuuuuce!'_

Natasha's face went red as she read the text. She turned her phone slightly just in case Bruce caught a glimpse. She looked up at her friends who were holding in their smiles.

' _I swear im gonna kill both of u if u dont stop!'_

' _Hey Nat does he smell gooooood?'_ Maria asked.

' _Shut up!'_

' _Ooh I wonder what he tastes like. Can you find out for us Nat?'_ Clint typed.

' _Stop!'_ Natasha texted, her face growing redder by the second.

' _Probably Caramel'_ Maria replied. ' _Go taste that caramel fudge Natasha'_

' _IM NOT JOKING GUYS!'_

' _C'mon Nat. His silky lips are waiting for you. Dont be shy'_

Natasha had had enough. She grabbed her half empty water bottle and poured it onto Clint's pants. "What the hel!" he called out.

Everyone at the table looked down to see Clint's wet pants.

"Oh my," Pepper exclaimed.

"Clint what happened!" Natasha gasped, pretending it wasn't her fault. Maria's shocked face slowly turned into a hidden laugh.

"What do you mean _what happened!_ _You_ just poured water on MY PANTS!" he yelled.

"Clint I don't know what you're talking about but you're making a scene. Go clean that up." Natasha instructed.

Clint looked at her and then Maria and Pepper with disbelief. "Y'know what, I will. I'm done with you, Nat. I just can't." he said taking his stuff and heading toward the exit.

"What was that all about?" Bruce asked once he was gone.

Natasha's heart sank. _Don't throw up, don't throw up…_ "I don't know, Clint can be clumsy sometimes." she replied. _What kind of answer Natasha. Stupido, stupido…_

Just then her phone vibrated again. ' _Why?'_ Clint had texted her.

' _To be honest u had it coming'_ she replied.

' _Clint you're missing the show. They just finished making oouuuut!'_ Maria announced.

' _Yes because saying 2 words is definitely making out'_

' _Two words? Dang Nat ur practically pregnant!'_ Clint exclaimed.

' _You guys are stupid'_

' _Thank you!'_ They texted in unison.

* * *

 **Love you ALL!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6! So excited! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's pretty long. Read my Hotel Wakanda too please. Comment and follow!**

* * *

Biology…

Natasha got to class early that day and started doing some homework for her earlier classes. "Hey Natasha," Helen greeted.

"Hey Helen," she replied.

"So, how's the tutoring going?" she asked as students began to pile into the classroom. "I hope it isn't any trouble."

"No, no it's pretty good so far. I think Bucky's only problem is that he doesn't put effort." Natasha explained thinking back to when he revealed his test scores. "I'm certain that with my help he'll pass the unit test no problem."

"Oh that's great. Thank you so much for doing this Natasha. It means a lot." Helen said.

"No prob. It actually feels kinda good to be in charge of someone for once. Must be how you feel Miss Teacher's assistant."

"Haha, I wish," Helen replied laughing it off and returning to the front of the room.

Just then Bucky walked toward the class with Carol trailing close behind him. They gave a goodbye kiss at the door parted ways. Heesh, they're too obsessed, Natasha thought.

"Hey red," he said once he arrived.

"(Sigh) hi," she replied still annoyed by that nickname. "So can I see your notes?"

Bucky took out his notebook and gave it to her. "I don't see how taking better notes is going to help. Usually I just study from the book."

"Studying from the book is fine but writing down the information usually helps more. For me at least. I barely ever have to study but if I don't take good notes then my test scores aren't as high."

"(Sigh) whatevs,"

"So when do you want to get together?" she asked. Bucky looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she realized what she had said. As he opened his mouth to answer she cut him off. "Not like that," she corrected causing him to chuckle.

"Well, I have football practice today so maybe tomorrow?" he asked.

"Tomorrow it is then."

The next day…

Natasha woke up to see her roommate rushing around their room again. "Good morning?" she greeted.

"Oh, hey Nat. Sorry if I woke you up. I have a DECA meeting this morning and I have to be there early." Maria explained as she began to apply some makeup and put her hair into a bun.

"No problem. I have a tutoring session today anyway so it doesn't matter." she said, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom. She began to brush her teeth.

"Oh yeah, you and Bucky." Maria remembered. "Good luck."

"Thanks,"Natasha said spitting out the paste and rinsing.

"How do I look?" Maria asked a couple minutes later while Natasha was combing her curls out.

"Um," Natasha started, examining her face. "exactly the same." she admitted.

"Seriously," Maria exclaimed. "I just did my makeup for 5 minutes and I don't look any better?" Natasha shook her head. "Nat, would you…" she asked gesturing toward her face.

"Sure," Natasha answered. Maria turned to face her and Natasha grabbed her makeup. "Okay, what look are you going for? Sexy librarian, casual librarian, or perky librarian?"

"Why does it have to be a librarian?" Maria asked.

"Because you're dressed like one." Natasha retorted. "Fine let's see." She said stepping back to look at Maria's outfit. She had on a tight knee length skirt with a button up shirt and a black blazer. "Well, your bod is pretty slim but you're tall and you have high-ish cheekbones so… slightly sexy casual librarian for sure." Natasha gave Maria a light smokey eye with strong eyebrows and a light wine lipstick. "Perfect," she exclaimed about 10 minutes later.

"Wow Nat thanks," Maria said admiring herself in the mirror. "I look amazing."

"You're welcome. And maybe you'll look so amazing that Lance Hunter asks you out. Eh, eeh?" Natasha nudged.

"Pepper got that stuck in your mind, didn't she?" Maria asked walking out of the bathroom while rolling her eyes.

"Maybe a little," Natasha smiled. "Make sure you wear heels or else the entire outfit will be ruined." Maria gave her a 'seriously' look. "Okay not ruined but you'll just look like a wannabe librarian."

"Oh, we don't want that," Maria mocked, grabbing her briefcase. "Thanks again," she said heading toward the door. "Love you!"

Once Maria left Natasha continued to get ready. She took a shower and began to pick out her clothes. Hmm, she thought, what shall I wear today? I looked pretty casual yesterday so maybe I should spice it up a little. She walked over to her phone to check the weather and noticed their group chat from the day before.

A sudden image of Bruce popped into her mind and caused her body to shiver. C'mon Nat, stop being such a girl about it. He's just a guy. A super smart, nerdy, cute, tall, perfect- ugh! She was both happy and upset with how she felt about Bruce. Yesterday she tried to pretend as if nothing had happened but she'd kept her emotions bottled up for too long. "(Sigh)" she breathed with a happy grin,flopping onto her bed. She set her phone down and went back to dressing.

Minutes later she was wearing an olive green crop top with blue jeans and a brown cardigan rolled up to her elbows with knee length tan high heel boots. She practically skipped to the bathroom. Okay, let's see… she thought, opening her makeup kit. She decided to go with a natural look that day by applying a slightly shimmery pink eyeshadow to her lids, a pale burgundy lipstick on her mouth and doing her eyebrows. She also decided to put her hair in a slightly messy ponytail with a bang.

When she finished getting ready she looked at herself in their full length mirror for the first time that day. Oh my gosh, she thought, what are you doing to yourself? I look fine, what's the problem? There's no problem but you just look so much different than usual. Yeah but change is good. Right? Sure but how is Clint going to react to this sudden 'change'? He's probably gonna make fun of me. I don't even look that different, what am I saying? Ugh, why does this have to be so complicated?!

Natasha ended the war with herself by grabbing her stuff and heading downstairs toward the lounge. I don't care what anyone thinks. I look perfect and I feel amazing.

As Natasha was starting to approach the lounge she felt her phone vibrate. She carefully got it out of her pocket making sure not to drop the books she was carrying. It was Clint trying to facetime her. She answered. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Where are you? I've been texting you for the past 5 minutes." he complained.

"Oh, sorry my phone was on silent," she apologized. "I'm heading to the lounge to get some studying done so I suggest you don't come."

"Ugh, I have nothing to do though."

"Well then find something to do. Text Laura or something, just don't bother me for the next 4 hours please."

"(Sigh) whatever I guess I'll- wait a second, are you wearing… glitter?" he asked examining her face.

"No!" Natasha lied, "Maybe. Why does it matter?"

"Oh, so because of yesterday's incident you felt like looking hotter than usual today, huh Natasha?" he teased.

"Oh my gosh Clint, did you learn nothing from yesterday's events?"

"Oh, this is too good. Natasha and Banner sitting in a tree, making out and talking dirty," he sang.

"Y'know what Clint, bye." she said hanging up on him. When she looked up from her phone she almost walked into the lounge door as someone opened it, which caused her to drop her phone. "No!" she called as it slipped. Before it hit the ground the person behind the door had caught it. She looked up to see that it was none other than Bruce Banner. OMG, OMG…

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine thanks," she said trying her best not to stutter.

"I'm guessing this is yours," he said holding her phone out to her.

"Yeah, thank you," she replied taking the phone from him, their hands slightly touching. Don't throw up!

"No problem," he shrugged. "You look nice today," he announced looking at her outfit and noticing a bit her stomach showing from her crop top but quickly looking away, cheeks burning. "I mean not that you don't look nice everyday, just today you look extra, nice." he stuttered.

"Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself," she replied playfully. You actually look reeeeally good allll the time. Shut up Nat! "And thanks again for catching my phone."

"You're welcome. But a case like that isn't exactly gonna protect much if this happens again." he said looking down at her cheap red case.

"Yeah, It was just the easiest thing to find on short notice," she explained.

"Well if you want one manufactured personally by me that's practically bulletproof, I could hook you up."

"Really? That'd be awesome." she exclaimed.

They stood there for a couple of seconds waiting for the other to speak . "Well I gotta go but it was nice bumping into you," she exclaimed trying to break the awkwardness. Really nice.

"Yeah, yeah you too," he said. "See you around."

"Yeah, bye." she said going completely into the lounge. She walked quickly to the bathroom making sure she didn't look suspicious. When she entered it she threw her stuff on the counter and started doing a happy dance. Oh my gosh! He said I looked niiiice! And he touched my hand! Squee! "I guess dressing up today really paid off."

Just then Sharon and Sue walked into the bathroom causing Natasha to rush to the sink and pretend to wash her hands. "Hi guys," she greeted.

"Oh hey Natasha, what's up?" Sharon asked.

"Oh nothing just using the bathroom," she pretended.

Susan Storm, aka sister of Johnny Storm, aka biggest player in school right after Tony Stark. He was even worse than Bucky and that was saying something especially since he was a grade below us. Sue was about 5'7 with medium length blonde hair and grey blue eyes. Sharon was the same height as her but with wavy blonde hair and brown eyes.

"You look really cute today," Susan commented looking at her outfit.

Natasha looked down at herself, "Thanks, you too." she replied while finishing up. "So what are you guys up to?"

"Oh, we're actually studying at the couches. You could join us if you want."

"Oh, sure," Natasha replied. Guess I'll have to finish this up later, she thought with a small grin.

The girls were located in a circle in a far corner. Natasha laid on one couch while Sue laid on another. Sharon sat on a beanbag chair across from them. After almost 1 hour of studying they were approached by Reed. Reed Richards was not only the smartest person in the entire school but he was also Sue Storm's boyfriend for the past year and a half. They too had an on again off again relationship but theirs was an entirely different story.

"Hello Sue, ladies," he greeted while she got up a kissed his cheek.

"Hey," they replied.

"You ready?" she asked turning to face him.

"Ready for…?" he started giving her a confused look.

"Oh my gosh, did you seriously forget?" Sue gasped.

"No I didn't forget, I was just pulling your buttons, goodness." he laughed.

Sue sighed and rolled her eyes. "See you guys later," she said picking up her stuff and walking off with Reed following closely behind her.

Sharon went back to her work while Natasha took her phone out of her pocket and texted Bucky. 'Meet me in the lounge. Bring your stuff.'

10 minutes later…

Sharon and Natasha continued to work, having the occasional conversation until they were approached by Bucky and Steve. "Hey red," Bucky started when they got there.

"That's still not my name," she retorted, turning around.

"Hey Nat," Steve said looking her up. "You look nice."

"Oh this old thing," she joked. "Just found it sitting in my closet."

"Hey guys," Sharon said joining the conversation.

"Oh, Sharon, hi." Steve started, noticing her presence and turning toward her. Breath… "You look nice too." he said looking down at her black cardigan, baby blue tank top, and blue jeans. Is that the only thing you know how to say?!

"Thanks," she replied. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"I hope it's no problem by me inviting them?" Natasha asked breaking the silence.

"No, no it's fine," Sharon assured.

"Great," she declared. Steve sat down on the second couch and Bucky next to Natasha. "You ready?" she asked him as he got his stuff out.

He grabbed a pencil and zipped his backpack. "Hit me."

* * *

 **Happy New year! Love you all. Don't be asleep like the rest of them.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi guys. This chapter is pretty short and boring so sorry. I've been busy-ish. Anyway suggest, comment, favorite, and follow. I'm hoping to make this into a series so that you'll get to see what happens with other people, not just Natasha and Bucky.**

* * *

2 hours later…

They continued to study in mostly silence as the day went by.

Sharon got up from her beanbag chair and put her stuff down. "I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be right back," she announced.

"Okay," Natasha replied.

Bucky watched her walked into the restroom and waited until the door was closed to speak. "Steve," he started.

"Yeah?" Steve replied looking up from his work.

" _Steeeve_ ," he elongated, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up," Steve stated.

"C'mon _maaaan_ ," he said smiling widely.

Natasha looked up to see what all the fuss was about.

"Will you stop talking?" Steve said going back to his work, his face starting to turn red.

"What's going on?" Natasha asked.

"Nothing," Steve assured.

"Oh it's something alright." Bucky stated, making Steve dig his pencil into the paper. "Little Stevie here has a crush."

"On Sharon? I know, but why are you teasing him? _Everybody_ knows."

"Everyone? Seriously?" Steve exclaimed.

"Well most of the people I know do. I ship it."

" _Because,"_ Bucky started, answering her earlier question. "of the _conversation_ we had this morning." he explained, winking at Steve.

"You mean when you were saying disgusting things to me this morning while I was trying to change, that I couldn't avoid hearing?" Steve replied sarcastically.

"Whatever. She's here, you're here. Why haven't I seen any action yet?"

"Because Steve isn't a womanizer like you," Natasha retorted.

"Whatevs."

Just then Sharon walked out of the bathroom. The group quickly returned to their work, Bucky silently laughing and Steve burning up.

Later that day…

After the tutoring session was over Natasha returned to her room.

' _Dude'_ Clint had texted her.

' _What'_ she replied as she approached her dorm room.

' _It's been 4 hrs. R u done?'_

' _Ya but have you been sitting in front of the clock for the past 4 hours waiting for me like a loser?'_

' _No. Can I come over?'_ he asked.

' _Why?'_

' _Why not? Do u have Banner in there or something?'_ he texted using smirking emojis.

' _Shut up Clint. You can come if u bring me food. I haven't eaten all day'_

' _Fine. Besides I know exactly what you want ;)'_

' _Good for you'_ she replied ending the conversation and putting her phone in her pocket. She opened the door to her room to find Maria, wearing her regular clothes, working at her desk. "Hey," she greeted as she walked to her side of the room and sat on her bed.

"Hey," Maria replied. "Thanks again for this morning. I got a bunch of compliments." she said turning to face Natasha and noticing her makeup. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" she started with a smile on her face.

"Don't." Natasha commanded. "It's nothing. I just thought I'd look nice today, gosh."

"I'm guessing by your attitude that Clint was teasing you, huh?"

"You think?" she laughed. "I got so many compliments today by so many people though. And a lot of guys were flirting with me and staring at-"

"Your a**? Figures." Maria interrupted. "Those jeans are _magical_."

"I was going to say my stomach slash chest but I guess that works too."

"Any guys in particular?" Maria pried with her eyebrows up.

Natasha's cheeks burned. She knew she was talking about Bruce. She thought back to their encounter earlier. "Maybe," she started, causing Maria to giggle.

Just then they heard a knock on the door. Maria got up to answer it and when she opened the door it was Clint. "Wassup," he said walking inside with a takeout bag.

"Thank you," Natasha said, taking it from him.

"Yeah," he replied sitting on Maria's bed. "So, back to my earlier question. Why are you wearing glitter and why are you wearing a bra?"

"It's not a bra. It's a crop top, thank you." she corrected. "And why not? All day long I've been getting compliments and now it's just getting annoying. People are acting as if I usually look like trash."

"You don't look like trash, Nat." Maria assured.

"I'm just saying you're pretty _exposed_ today," he explained, motioning toward her chest. "Not that it's not enjoyable,"

"That's it. I'm changing." she declared, getting up from her bed and taking off her cardigan.

"While I'm here?" Clint asked. "Again, not that I'm complaining-"

"I don't care what you see Clint. You need to man up anyways."

Clint just closed his eyes and waited. "You're really asking for it, Nat."

Moments later she sat back on her bed wearing sweats. She got out her homework and did it while she ate.

"Hey," Clint started. "Did you do the bio homework?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Might I see it?"

"Sure." she said taking it out of her folder and handing it to him.

"You da best."

"I know."

* * *

 **Yeah this chapter wasn't that good but hopefully the next will be better. Don't worry, the story will end with bang! Lots of Love!**


	8. Chapter 8

As Steve and Bucky walked back toward their dorm they had another conversation about Sharon.

"So," Bucky started.

"What?" Steve questioned.

"Red's gone. Now tell me the real reason why you can't ask her out." he explained.

Steve's heart jumped a little at this, knowing he was talking about Sharon. He didn't like discussing his 'love life' with others. Even if they were his best friends. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak Carol walked up behind them.

"Hey guys," she said, approaching them.

"Hey," they replied.

The couple automatically laced their fingers together as if it was as routine as breathing. "What're you guys up to?" Carol asked.

"Nothing much," Bucky answered. " you?"

"I'm heading out with Jennifer, Jessica, and Anna. Low on food." she explained. "Anyway," she said turning to face Bucky and talking in a quieter voice, obviously only meaning to talk to him. "Are we still on for tonight? Cause I don't want another incident like last time-"

"Yes, yes, I get it, gosh." he interrupted.

"Okay, just making sure. I guess I'll see you later then." she said giving him what must've supposed to be a quick peck on the lips, probably for Steve's sake, but instead when she began to pull away, Bucky pulled her back in and deepened it, causing Carol to let out a surprised giggle. Seconds later she pushed him away and playfully hit his arm and rolled her eyes. "You're disgusting." she exclaimed, beginning to walk away toward the parking lot. "Bye Steve!" she called out to him and Steve gave a little wave. "Don't be late!" she pointed to Bucky. Then she joined her group of friends and they got in the car and drove off.

"What was that all about?" Steve asked.

"We have a date today," Bucky answered.

"Where?"

"Oh you know where," Bucky smiled.

Steve looked at his friend slightly horrified, disgusted, and annoyed. Sure he'd walked in on Carol and Bucky making out in his room, too many times to count, and even a couple times, before him and Carol started dating, he'd found him practically doing you know what with random girls, but he didn't think Carol was the kind of person to do that. He stopped in his tracks. "Ar- are you serious?"

Bucky bursted into laughter. "Dude, dude, no, I'm joking!" he said in between laughs. "Oh, you should've seen the look on your face."

Steve sighed in relief. He knew Bucky didn't give much thought into things like that but Carol was one of his closest girl friends. He didn't want to think of her as someone like that. "That's not funny."

Once his laughs died down he gained control of himself once again. "Dude, if I ever brought that up to her, we'd be done. Carol's not that easy."

Once they approached their room Bucky continued their conversation. "So anyway, you didn't answer my question. You and Sharon. What's goin on?"

Steve, who'd hoped Bucky would just forget about the topic, sighed and walked into the room. He quickly put his stuff down and laid on his bed. "Look Bucky, Sharon isn't the most important thing on my mind right now. I have homework to do, football to practice for, and you to babysit." he answered looking over at his friend annoyingly. "Talking to her isn't mandatory."

Bucky walked over to his own bed and plopped his stuff on the floor next to it. "Yeah, I get it but still," he started. He walked over and sat down next to Steve, "You've never had a girlfriend, unless you count that thing you had with that Peggy girl. That's already sad." he explained. Steve slightly cringed at this statement. During freshman year he'd started an almost relationship with a foreign exchange student from Britain named Peggy Carter. She was exactly Steve's type. Fierce, graceful, and beautiful. By the time they'd become close it was already time for Peggy to leave. Since then Steve had never really wanted to get into a relationship. With Peggy, things were slow and steady. Most of the people he saw now were wild or wanted to get into things fast. "And half of the girls at this school are obsessed with you so it shouldn't be too hard to get one." Bucky continued with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "If you don't make a move soon, I will, just to make you feel bad."

Steve snapped back into reality. "Yeah, you will, even though you have a girlfriend," he laughed, pushing him off his bed.

Bucky laughed and began to undress, heading toward the shower. "Yeah, but seriously, that b**ch is hot. Some guy is gonna steal her from you. Especially with Stark's Halloween party coming up next weekend. And Winter formal in a month." he finished before closing the bathroom door.

Steve hated the way Bucky talked about women, but he was right. If he didn't make a move soon, Sharon could end up with someone else. What am I saying, he thought, why does it even matter. I don't even know if she likes me back. If I asked her out I might just make a fool of myself. He put a pillow over his face and groaned. Whatever.

The next day…

Natasha woke up the next morning to hear the water running. Maria was out of bed and taking a shower. Natasha looked around her surroundings to see some of the take out bags from the day before on the ground. After Clint had left, the girls binge watched episodes of Teen Wolf, both trying to catch up. She quickly picked up the leftover wrappers and threw them away. She picked up her phone and took look at her daily inspiration quote; Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Amen, she thought. Suddenly the sound of water stopped and Maria poked her head out the bathroom door. Her eyes landed on Natasha. "Morning," she greeted.

"Hey," she replied. "Do you think you're wise or foolish?"

Maria took a second to reply, beginning to change. "Hmm... I think I act slightly foolish but I'm smart. Probably be wise when I grow up." she answered. Natasha nodded in reply.

"What about Clint and Pepper?" she asked.

"Pepper's definitely going to be wise. No doubt. Clint?" Maria started, pausing to think about it. "Clint's a wise fool. He knows what's right and how to help but he's still an idiot, y'know?"

Natasha giggled. "Yeah. Are you busy today?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Nope. I'm free."

"We going to Stark's party next weekend?"

"Hmm," Maria pondered thinking about her schedule. "Yeah, I guess I'm free then too."

"Great. We should go shopping for our costumes today."

"Sure." Maria replied.

"We should look different today since we're going out and all. Like we're adults." Natasha suggested.

"16 year old looking adults buying Halloween costumes, sure." Maria said, rolling her eyes. "Wanna ask Peps if she wants to go?"

"On it," Natasha replied grabbing her phone and texting Pepper. Seconds later she replied. "Pep's in."

"Cool."


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey berries. New chapter! Awesome! Anyway sorry for the super late post blah, blah, blah. It's been a while and I just didn't know how to end this chapter but I figured it out today. There might be a couple spelling errors since I wrote it fast so sorry and point them out to me if you can. Enjoy!**

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The girls continued getting ready and an hour later they were heading down the Girls dorm stairs. They stopped by the lounge cafe to meet Pepper.

"Hey Peps," Natasha started when they approached. "You ready to go?"

"Hi and yeah, I'm just waiting for my smoothie." she explained motioning toward the cashier. "Should be finished any minute now."

"Cool," Natasha said as her and Maria sat down and began to converse.

"Number 67!" They heard the cashier call. "That's me," Pepper exclaimed. She walked over to the register and grabbed her wallet. Before she could place the money on the counter another hand came out from behind her with a 10 dollar bill and slid it on the table. _Let me guess_ , she thought already having an idea of who it could be. "Tony," she announced turning around to see the mischievous brunette.

"Ms. Potts," he replied. "Uh, keep the change," he told the cashier. Pepper grabbed her drink, thanked the cashier, and quickly walked back to the girls table. Tony caught up with her. "Pepper you won't believe the cute little waitress outfit I found for you for my party. It-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? What makes you think I'm even going to your party let alone wearing some costume?" she retorted as they approached the table.

" Well, first of all it's gonna be pretty lit."

"But-" Pepper started.

"Second, not to brag but it's probably going to be the best party of the year." Tony interrupted.

"Actually-" she started again.

"And lastly you're working for me on Friday, remember?" Pepper scoffed and rolled her eyes. "C'mon Peps. All your friends are gonna be there plus," he said spreading his arms, "You're favorite Junior,"

"Oh Steve's going?" she replied.

"Haha, you're funny," he said rolling his eyes.

"Fine Tony, I'll go." she finally said. "Now if you'll excuse me I have somewhere to be," she said gesturing toward Nat and Maria who'd been listening since they arrived.

"Ladies," he greeted looking them up. "I hope to see you there as well." he said right before walking away.

Once he was gone Pepper sighed. "So annoying,"

Maria and Natasha shared a look. " _Riiiight_ ,"Natasha said.

"What?" Pepper asked.

"Oh nothing," she replied looking back at Maria who was acting just as strangely as her.

"Shall we go then?" Pepper asked still skeptical about her friends.

"Whatever you say," Maria replied picking up her stuff and walking to the entrance with Natasha.

 _Idiots._

"So," Natasha started, "what are we going to wear? You wanna go as a themed group or individual?"

"I was thinking an Alice in wonderland theme. That'd be cool." Maria stated.

"Yeah or maybe…" Natasha started. The girls continued to chat until they arrived.

As Maria stopped the car Pepper had gotten a text from Tony. "No," she said looking it over.

"What's wrong?" Maria asked as they walked through the entrance.

"This," Pepper replied holding up her phone. Maria and Natasha looked at the screen.

"What the…?" They started. It was a picture of the outfit Tony had bought her. It was a skimpy little waitress dress with fishnet tights and a little clip on hat.

"If my parents saw me wearing that they'd flip."

"It's… cute?" Natasha said trying to cheer Pepper up.

"You're just saying that," Pepper retorted.

"No. I'm not. It's really not that bad." she assured.

"Yes it is." Maria cut in removing all of the hope from Pepper's face. "If anyone ever asked me to wear something like that I would punch them in the face right then and there."

"Gosh, well when you put it like that-" Pepper started with an upset look appearing on her face again.

"No Pepper,it's not as bad as she says. I mean, I'd wear it if it wasn't suggested to me by Tony."

"Really?"

"Actually yes. And to prove it to you, Maria and I will wear the same outfits to match." she stated happily.

"What?!" Maria and Pepper replied at the same time.

"Yeah, we'll buy our versions today." she added.

"Excuse me but no," Maria said. "I'm not. I barely wanted to go to this party let alone wear some tiny maid dress."

"C'mon Mari. It's for Pepper." Natasha pleaded. "You'd want us to do the same for you."

"Uh no." she objected. "I wouldn't have ended up in a mess like this in the first place.

"Please Maria." Pepper started. Maria turned to look at Pepper who was trying to pout. Then Natasha chimed in as well.

"Yeah, please?" she whined. The girls stood staring at her with puppy dog eyes but soon knew that it wouldn't make her cry so they began to whine more.

"It'll only be for a couple of hours." Pepper assured.

"And I know you'll look super hot in it anyways," Natasha added. Maria stood with her arms crossed as the two started to pretend to cry. Now some people in the parking lot were starting to look at them.

"Ughhh. Fine!" she announced, finally cracking. "I'll wear your stupid outfit. Just stop before someone calls security."

"Yay," they cheered. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

They began to walk into the mall and descended toward the costume shop. Pepper walked up next to Maria.

"Thanks Maria. It really means a lot." she said.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this thing over with." _Wierdos._

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 **LOL (Lots of Love)!**


	10. Just asking

Hey guys sorry for the random update. It's not a new chapter I just wanna talk. So... how are you guys? Eh... okay so yeah I just want to apologize for not updating as much as I'd wanted to this summer. I thought I would get a bunch of chapters out since I didn't have school but nope! I've been neglecting my stories for a while and I'm sorry. Now school is gonna start again and idk how much I'll be able to update especially since I'm now trying to do 3.5ish stories at the same time. Heesh...

Anywho I really appreciate all the support you guys give me and the comments. Every time I read them they cheer me up and encourage me to write so thanks. I'll try to update more often from now on.

(And also if you listen to Got7, Astro, BTS, or Seventeen visit my wattpad ByzantiumBlackberry. I'll be posting my kpop stories on there, wamp, wamp) Sigh...

Okay now for the main thing. WHO do you guys want me to write about in the next chapter. Cause i'm having trouble deciding. Please, for goodness sake even write your own chapter and PM it to me and I'll post it on the story with your credits. Ok maybe not do THAT, unless you really want to that would be awesome and I'd be up for it! (I always want to do that but i'm too scerd) but yeah. I need the suggestions guys and I know I say that all the time and it's probs annoying as duck (sigh) but seriously. My brain cannot function without them.

Thank you for reading this if you did. It means a lot to me. THANK YOU AND SEE YA NEXT WEEK (I'll probably be replacing this with the update then or sooner) Leave all questions and comments in the comment section or PM me.

LOVE YOU ALLLLL!


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